“I am just sick and tired of getting run over every single game,” huffed Howard following the Canucks' 4-2 victory at Rogers Arena. “I saw the replay. I thought Zee [Henrik Zetterberg] never pushed him. He loses his footing and he steamrolls me.”

The 'he' in question was Canuck forward Jannik Hansen, who drove hard to the net on his forehand and appeared to be shoved – or at least nudged – by Zetterberg. Hansen piled into Howard and took him out of the play, leaving Edler a yawing cage for Vancouver's fourth goal.

“I didn't like the goal,” Babcock said. “To me, it's no foul on them but, to me, it's no goal. The goalie has to be able to make a play. I think that's what the rules are and that's what they stipulate. But that's life. Anytime you dig yourself a hole like we did against a good team, you're going to have a hard time coming back.”

Zetterberg admitted he was surprised that Edler's goal counted.

“I think Hansen lost his balance,” Zetterberg said. “He comes with a lot of speed and he falls down into our goalie. For sure, I was surprised it counted if you see the stuff that is being called this year.”

The other controversial third-period play was Niklas Kronwall's hellacious hit on Canuck centre Ryan Kesler just inside the Vancouver blueline. Babcock called that “a good hit”.

“I mean, one guy has the puck, he's coming up the wall and the other guy is going after him,” Babcock commented. “If you're taking that out of hockey, then we don't have hockey.”

Kronwall didn't feel he left his feet and said that if he did, he expected a call from league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan.

“If that's the case, I'm sure I'll get a call,” he added. “Obviously it's not what we want in our game. I felt the puck was there and I tried to put a good check on him.”

Edler's critical goal came 15 seconds later with Kesler in the box for attempted retaliation.

IT'S A HAB-IT: Canuck winger Alex Burrows grew up in a bilingual household in suburban Montreal, with an English father – Rodney Burrows is actually from England – and a French-Canadian mother.

He was an ardent Montreal Canadiens supporter growing up and understands as well as anyone the controversy surrounding the Habs' appointment of unilingual Randy Cunneyworth as interim coach. His take on the matter?

“It's a delicate situation,” Burrows said Wednesday. “Growing up in Quebec, a lot of people relate to the Montreal Canadiens. A lot of people watch the Canadiens every Saturday night, and on weekdays, and they like to hear the coach answer questions and talk to them in French about the team that they love.

“But at the end of the day, I still think if you win games, it doesn't matter if you speak English or French,” added Burrows. “Winning is all that matters. However, I can see why people in Quebec would like a bilingual coach. I understand both sides of the story.”

Fellow Canuck forward Max Lapierre not only grew up in the Montreal area, he was drafted by the Habs (third round, 2003) and broke into the NHL with them. He was on the team most recently as last season before he being dealt to the Anaheim Ducks and then the Canucks.

The three coaches he played for in Montreal – Guy Carbonneau, Bob Gainey and Jacques Martin – were all bilingual.

“I think the main goal is to win hockey games and I'm pretty sure if the team wins 10 games in a row, [Cunneyworth] would be a God in Montreal,” said Lapierre, 26. “The only thing you want to do is win. Even if nobody can understand him, if he wins hockey games, people will be happy.”

Cunneyworth hasn't won anything yet, and dropped to 0-3-0 Wednesday night after a 5-1 loss in Chicago.

BALLARD STILL OUT: Canuck defenceman Keith Ballard (back spasms) was back on the ice Wednesday morning but he didn't stay out for the full optional practice. He had a long chat with head coach Alain Vigneault by the bench before leaving.

“Keith is still day-to-day,” Vigneault said. “It's nothing serious but there is still some spasms there so we're going to try to get this over with so we don't hear about it. It might take a couple of more days.”

epap@vancouversun.com

www.twitter.com/elliottpap

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